In most instant lotteries, the tickets are composed of a paper portion upon which foil, usually aluminum, is laminated. The winning numbers or symbols along with a validation number are printed on the foil on the front of the ticket and covered with a scratchoff material, typically a latex compound. Lottery tickets are normally printed in groups of 200 to 500, termed "books" or "packets," with consecutive book numbers printed on the back of the ticket. The book number is used by lottery administration for inventory control purposes.
This construction results in potential security problems for lottery administrations. For example, it might be possible for a dishonest lottery employee or others with access to winning tickets that have been received by the lottery as winners prior to the recordation of the validation number to remove the ticket from the lottery's office, delaminate the ticket and glue the foil with the winning symbols to a new paper portion. It is normal practice to have a validation number printed on the front of a lottery ticket which is not related to the book number. Once the foil with winning symbols has been affixed to a new paper portion, the ticket can then be resubmitted to the lottery with the name and address of another person written on the back of the ticket. In this manner, the winning ticket can be submitted to a lottery administration with the result that payment is made to the wrong party.
Similarly, the lottery ticket manufacturers are vulnerable to situations where someone takes a scrap ticket that has winning symbols, but does not have a book number printed on the back, and relaminate the ticket with a back from a losing ticket having a book number legitimately purchased from a retailer. Since the relaminated ticket will have a validation number and a book number, it will likely be paid as a winner by the lottery administration.